Page 57 of Empire of Dark

This was too much, would make me too vulnerable. Something else I needed to keep hidden from him.

But after what he did for me last night, how he helped me, I was finally beginning to understand that maybe he wasn’t the enemy I thought he was—the enemy Ineededhim to be.

True, maybe all he’d done was part of his master plan to seduce me. Or maybe he was genuinely interested in me.

Either way, it didn’t negate the fact that I wanted to give him something of me. Something that very few people knew of me.

I reached out and unfastened the clamp, pulling it off my arm and I set it down on the table.

Completely vulnerable.

My skin truly raw to the air for the first time in forever, his fingers dusted over the triple infinity brand, then the tip of his forefinger weaved along the line of the mark. Slow, sensual, like he was studying every millimeter of my skin. “This scar, it’s darkened with time, hasn’t it?”

I nodded.

“How?” He looked up at me, his forefinger not moving from my arm. “How did they do that with your impenetrable skin?”

A deep breath sank into my lungs, fortifying me enough to answer him. “It’s the only place on my body where I can be hurt. An Achilles heel, if you will, only on my arm. And no, I have no idea if my lineage goes back to Styx.”

He jerked away, his hand snapping off from my arm. He picked up the clamp and shoved it toward my left hand.

His breath hitched. “Put it back on. I don’t want to hurt you.” Both of his hands clasped around mine, trying to get me to take it back.

My eyes met his stare, the heat between us so palpable I had a hard time breathing. “Don’t worry. I will hurt you long before you will hurt me.”

Chapter Fourteen

{ ADA }

May Zeus’s spirit strike me down, I wanted Damen.

I knew the promise I’d made to Triaten. The promise I’d made to myself.

I hated him. Hated his family.

Damen wouldn’t break me. I wouldn’t be seduced.

One simple goal.

One simple, muddied, fucked-up goal.

But the intensity pulsing in the air between us in this moment, with his hands clutched over mine, trying to make me set my cuff back into place, undid me.

Stripped away every defense I had against him, the logical side of my brain drifting away until it was no longer recognizable.

The manic energy between us was too much to ignore, too much to battle against. So much so, I fleetingly wondered if he had powers that could manifest carnal hunger. A need so raw and hard to deny, I felt like I was drowning just by not touching him in that moment.

I wanted him. Wanted his body heavy over the top of me, thrusting into me, like I had never craved anything in my life.

I knew what he could do, yes, but that had been trickery yesterday—his powers displayed in full force.

I didn’t want that. I wantedhim. His skin hard against mine, setting my nerves to fire. His breath quickening when he sank his cock into me. His growls as he pounded into my core.

I wanted all of it. Not the trickery. Not his powers.Him.

He drew a quick intake of breath, his pupils dilating. He felt it just like I felt it.

This was what he’d wanted for weeks. For me to break.